Scattered Stars
by Cress070
Summary: The light swelled, swelled so bright Sophie thought her head would burst. And then everything went dark. She awoke to Dex's terrified face shining pale and ghostly in the blackness, his freckles standing out starkly on his skin. "What was that?" she barely managed to moan. Dex swallowed. "That was their Lodestar Initiative. Now we run. They're coming. I'm so sorry."
1. Chapter 1

**Ugh it did the code thing I'm so sorry yalls but here it is, hopefully fixed. THis is chapter one of the THRILLING conclusion to my trilogy, The Truth, Through the Gap in the Curtains, and now Scattered Stars. It is rated... I think I rated it T but I might have forgotten to do that... it SHOULD be rated T for some blood and gore at the end, and maybe a bit of kissing, but nothing mature, I promise. Also, this chapter isn't that exciting because I was trying to come to terms with the setting, what's happened, etc. Next chapter will be better, I promise :) Also, I think I'm going to kill somebody at the end. But it will be a very heroic death, and the Neverseen will be deafeted. ALSO, if you haven't read The Truth, that's fine. I'm glad you didn't, because it was the first thing I ever wrote on here, so the first chapters are terrible. I do like the last one though. You probably SHOULD read Through The Gap in the Curtains before reading this one, but you'll probably pick up on most of the details even if you don't. Okay, done rambling now. Here's the chapter!**

"Is that everything?" Sophie called over her shoulder to Fitz, who was back from his light leap to Everglen. She set down the box in her hands with a thump, rubbing her aching back.

"Yeah, that's all from my house," Fitz called back, coming into Sophie's new bedroom.

It was moving day in the Foster-Vacker household. Three months after their wedding, Sophie and Fitz had finally found a house to share. It had been a long day- ferrying boxes back and forth between their old houses, making sure they hadn't missed anything, unpacking a bit- Sophie was exhausted, but happy. They had started in the early morning, and now the sun was just beginning to dip lazily behind the mountains.

Sophie smiled softly as Fitz wrapped his arm around her, watching the sunset. God, she loved this boy. She loved spending time with him by her side. She loved the house they had bought together, loved the way it perched atop the hill. Loved the rolling hills all around, loved the uncovering of old memories and the promise of new ones.

The one thing she didn't love? The goats. Those things were everywhere, roaming all around outside their fenced-in garden, and one had managed to jump the fence and terrorize Iggy while Sophie had been unpacking inside. However, it was a small price to pay for this… bliss.

Well, almost. Keefe and Tam were doing fine, they had moved into their new house the week after they got married- but Biana was still living at Everglen with Alden and Della after Dex… no. she wasn't ready to think about Dex. It scared her too much.

There had been nothing out of the Neverseen for months now. Three whole months, almost four. And Dex had been one of Sophie's closest confidants- so Dex knew… everything. All their secrets.

Sophie shook her head slightly, and pushed those thoughts away, determined to let this day remain untarnished.

"Do you want to set out a table and have some dinner?: Sophie asked Fitz, leaning her head on his shoulder. "Then we could go see Keefe and Tam. Does that sound good?"

Fitz sighed contentedly. "It sounds perfect. I'll ask Ubalia to whip some stew for us."

Sophie nodded. "Perfect." Fitz kissed her on the head and slipped away to do that, and Sophie made her way downstairs and into the room they had selected to be their dining area. Frowning and closing her eyes, she snapped her fingers, and their table appeared with a pop. Sophie grinned in relief.

Her relatively new conjuring ability was still a work in progress. Sometimes nothing would happen when she snapped her fingers, and sometimes the thing she was thinking of would appear- but not all of it. It was a bit of a gamble every time. She closed her eyes, and snapped her fingers twice more. When she opened them, the table was set with a pristine white tablecloth, (she knew it would get a stain within the first meal, but oh well.) forks, knives, and spoons. The plates and bowls were in the kitchen.

Boxes were still stacked around the room, and Sophie hit her shin on one as she made her way out of the room, across the sparkling foyer, and past the stairs into the kitchen. The smell of stew cooking flooded the air here, making Sophie's mouth water.

She peeked around the corner, where she could see Ubalia, their resident gnome, stirring a pot of something hot and steaming. She was humming something that was making the roses outside the window open and close, like a time-lapse of a flower blossoming. Sophie watched the roses dancing for a moment, reminded of her magical wedding night with Fitz.

"That smells delicious, Ubalia," she said, and the small gnome jumped.

"Oh! Thank you, Miss Foster," she said, halting her stirring and turning to face Sophie. "I'm so sorry, Miss, I didn't see you there."

Sophie smiled uncomfortably at the formality of the greeting. She still didn't quite get the elf-gnome partnership.

"Please, Ubalia, call me Sophie. I just came to see if you would like some help in here?"

"No, Miss- Sophie. Don't worry about me. I can manage," said the gnome, wringing her green-tinted hands.

"Are you sure? I could just wash those dishes," Sophie said, her eyes flicking to the sink, where a behemoth pile of dirty dishware was stacked.

"Well…" Ubalia said, flushing a pretty shade of green, "If you really don't mind, the dishes… if you could do the dishes, that would be nice."

"Of course!" Sophie said, smiling at her kindly. She walked over to the sink and ran the water. She grabbed a sponge and some soap and began to scrub down a small pot. If felt good to be able to help somebody- even if it was just a single gnome, and not the entire elven world.

"Ubalia, this seems like a lot of work for you, and I don't want you to get lonely- I think I'll ask on of my friends back at Havenfield to come and work here. She's really nice, you'd like her."

"Oh, Sophie- please don't go to any trouble over me. I'm supposed to worry about you, not the other way around. That's what everyone says."

Sophie frowned. "Who's everyone? What do they say?" she asked, her hands still submerged in the warm, soapy water.

Ubalia gave the stew one last stir, and took it off the heat. "I don't mean to offend you, but they say… you're very accident prone. They also say you're our only hope. I took this job to protect you from what's coming. The Neverseen have reached the final phase of their Lodestar Initiative."

 **Ooooh exciting right? Haha we'll see. I hope you enjoyed, my lovely taco people! Thank you! alsoreviewswouldbejustgreatimneedysorry.**

 **xoxo,**

 **Cress**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello! I'm sorry, so sorry, I'm a day late with this chapter. I have good excuses though. I had a huge project that I started and finished this weekend, and I was sick. Good excuses, right? I'll try to be on time next time. Anyhoo, without further ado, here is the chapter! alsoimsorryitsshorteratleastithinkitsshorterhahawhoopsiemehereitis.**

"What?" Sophie whispered, dropping a small pot into the dirty water. It splashed over her white tunic, and she groaned- it had been a gift from Edaline- but it had jolted her out of the dizzying spiral of what-ifs flooding her head.

"Miss Sophie, perhaps we should get Mr. Vacker and sit down for this," Ubalia said anxiously, now holding three warm, steaming bowls of stew.

"Oh… yes," Sophie replied. "Why don't you come upstairs and eat dinner with us, then?"

"Oh… I shouldn't-"

"I insist." Sophie said firmly. She trusted Ubalia- well, she had up until now. She didn't want this gnome, whoever she might be, going unsupervised in their house any longer. She shouldn't know about the Lodestar Initiative. Nobody outside the Black Swan should. Unless, of course (and this was what was worrying Sophie now) they were part of the Neverseen.

"Alright," Ubalia said meekly, and Sophie felt a bit guilty. She shouldn't make assumptions too quickly, although with the world the way it was, it was best to be safe.

"Thank you. And maybe then, you can explain all of this to me,"

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

The lewmettes weren't ripe yet. Ubalia sighed, smoothing the cold dort back over the green bulbs. She began to hum to them, an ancient song that spoke of rain and healing, of sun and laughter, of storms and wind. Their tendrils shivered, and stretched higher above the earth. It really was a shame they weren't ready yet though- this meant another night hungry, unless she wanted to have dagum soup. Again. It tasted like toenails and music with a hint of cinnamon. There were few pleasant things in the Neverseen headquarters, and sometimes Ubalia didn't feel like the information she sometimes managed to smuggle out was valuable enough to account for the discomfort she suffered here.

Well, it hadn't been until then. Loud footsteps stomped past the door of the greenhouse and stopped just out of Ubalia's line of sight. She quieted her humming ever so slightly as somebody began talking.

"Soren. How much longer is this going to take?" a rough, scarred voice hissed. Ubalia heard somebody swallow nervously.

"I need more time, Alvar. Morke isn't ready yet. I need to complete his or her genetic coding, and then we have to get Della Vacker- or anybody, really, but she is ideal, given the power that runs in her family's blood- to carry Morke before I can speed up his or her growth process, which will take a few days, and…" Soren trailed off.

There was the sound of a brief scuffle, and a thud. Ubalia ceased her humming, flinching. She imagined Soren pressed up against the wall, held up by his throat.

"Listen to me now, Soren. The Lodestar Initiative failed years ago, and it was your fault. This time, you'd better get it right. You hear me? You have…how long do you need?"

"Sir, given the difficulty I'm having with the DNA, plus the growth process, plus the week of pregnancy, we're looking at…" Soren paused, probably knowing he was giving the wrong answer. "Six months?"

There was a sharp crack, and a louder thud, probably Soren being tossed to the floor. "You have one. Month. You hear me?"

"Yes, sir," Soren whispered. The footsteps continued down the hall, and a door slammed in the distance.

Ubalia stood up, shaking from head to toe. She had to alert the Black Swan.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

"And now I'm here," the small gnome finished. Sophie's untouched bowl of soup had gone cold as she had been listening, raptured, to Ubalia's story.

"Oh. Oh, no." Sophie said, turning to Fitz who was staring at Ubalia in shock. "Fitz, what do we _do_?"

"I… um, why don't we invite Keefe and Tam and Biana over? It's always best to do these things together, and… yeah. No, I don't know. I'll send out the Imparter messages," Fitz said, standing shakily.

A half-hour later, they were all clustered together on two couches Sophie had conjured up. Keefe and Tam were sitting together on one with Biana, and Sophie and Fitz were on the other. The space where Dex should have been was painfully empty.

So, Foster, why have you called us all here now? Did you just miss me and my amazing hair?" Keefe smirked.

"Keefe, no. You're married." Tam said. "To me."

"Shut up, my ex-boyfriend," Keefe replied.

"Ugh. I told you to stop calling me that," Tam complained, but Sophie shot them a look and they fell silent.

"What's the problem, Sophie?" Biana asked. Her eyes looked suspiciously red, like she'd been crying non-stop for days.

Everyone's expressions fell from smiles into horror as Sophie gave a short summary of Ubalia's story. "So, does anyone have any ideas? We need to stop this. But I can't do it alone," Sophie said, squeezing Fitz's hand. Everyone remained silent, until Biana piped up; "What about Dex?"

Dex. Dex. Dex was in the Neverseen. Sophie didn't know why, or how, or what he planned to do there. She didn't know if he was even still on their side. But now he could be their only hope.

"Biana… yes. That's right." Sophie said, her mind running a million possible scenarios. "I'll see if I can reach him. But I'll also open my mind to yours. Well, I'll try. I think I can do it, but…"

Sophie closed her eyes, first expanding her mind until it covered everyone in the room. Their voices filled her head, but she blocked then out now, searching for Dex. She pushed through hazy greys, thinking of his face, his freckles, his laugh, her first friend.

 _Dex? Dex?_ And then she was in his mind. She could feel his consciousness shift in surprise as he heard her mantal voice.

 _Sophie! Get out of my head. Now!_

Tears filled her eyes as she heard his voice, so filled with hate, directed at her.

 _Dex, we need your help. Please, listen to me._

 _You don't need me. You never need me. I'm just your sidekick, there for you to rescue and make your story more exciting. Sophie Foster, FItz Vacker, and… Deck Busy? Who's he? You don't need me, Sophie. You never do._

 _Please, Dex, you're our only hope. We need a spy. We need you to foil their plans. Do you know what's coming, Dex? Do you know how many could die if we fail?_

 _Yes. I know. And I'm looking forwards to it._

 **Yeah I really screwed up Dex huh. I'll fix him! Somehow! Don't worry, just bask in the KEEFE X TAM YAS! they are so so cute I love writing them. Okay, toodles until next weekend!**

**xoxo**

 **Cress**


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